/ 21 February 2011

Case could force leader to resign

Case Could Force Leader To Resign

Italy’s tumultuous 17-year relationship with its maverick prime minister entered a dangerous phase on Tuesday, as Silvio Berlusconi was sent for trial on vice charges and his supporters declared the indictment an onslaught on the will of the people.

The trial, to start in April and be presided over by three female judges, is unparalleled in the modern history of Italy and may make an early ­general election unavoidable.

Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his office by seeking her release in another case. He denies both charges. In his first public comment since a judge committed him for trial on April 6, Berlusconi said: “For love of country, I won’t talk about it.

Suffice to say that I am not in the slightest bit worried.” The prime minister, who was speaking at a press conference in Rome, cut short further questions on the affair, saying: “We’re here to deal with the economy, after all.”

Under Italian law the prime minister can continue to hold office even while in the dock, but with adversaries clamouring for his resignation, the party that keeps Berlusconi in power has given the first indication that it might shift its allegiance.

Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of Italy’s biggest opposition group, the Democratic Party (PD), said in an interview with the newspaper of the populist Northern League that a centre-left government would deliver the ­devolution the league seeks.

However, the Catholic Church, whose teachings on bioethical and other issues have been backed by Berlusconi’s governments, barely lifted a metaphorical eyebrow at the indictment.

Pursuing transparency
The president of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, said only: “Transparency is a quality that is worth pursuing at all levels for the good of the country.”

Wednesday’s edition of the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, put the indictment at the bottom of page two, next to an article on Japanese interest rates. A poll this week in the La Repubblica newspaper showed that almost half of the respondents believed the accusations against their prime minister were true. But just as many thought he would go unpunished.

After the announcement of the decision, Berlusconi scrapped a press conference and flew back from a visit to Sicily to spend three hours closeted in his Rome residence with two of his closest advisers: his lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, and a junior minister, Gianni Letta. He maintained a deafening silence.

It was left to other members of the government to express outrage. Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said the courts were “trying to condition the will of the voters and overturn one of the cardinal principles of all democracies: the balance of power between the judicial, legislative and executive arms of government”.

Justice Minister Angelino Alfano said the decision had implications for “the autonomy, sovereignty and independence of Parliament”. Earlier this month the chamber of deputies voted not to agree to a request for indictment on the grounds that it did not have the jurisdiction. However, Judge Cristina Di Censo ruled yesterday that Berlusconi should be sent straight to trial, without committal proceedings, because of the “obviousness of the evidence” against him.

Berlusconi (74) could face three years in prison on the juvenile prostitution charge and up to 12 years on the charge of abusing his official authority. But, because of his age, he is unlikely to be jailed if convicted.

Struggling Berlusconi
The decision to indict represented the latest in a string of devastating blows to the billionaire politician. His wife left him in 2009. Last year he was deserted by the man who had stood at his side since he entered politics in 1994, his former deputy, Gianfranco Fini.

Since then Berlusconi has struggled to keep his right-wing government afloat. On Sunday half a million women turned out to protest against the entrenched sexism they accuse it of representing, in one of the biggest demonstrations in recent years.

This case, the latest of many to be brought against Berlusconi, is peculiarly dangerous. He has wriggled out of several previous scrapes because of Italy’s lenient statutes of limitations, which “time out” legal proceedings.

But there is no statute of limitations for the alleged juvenile prostitution offence and the case has been put on a fast track, so it is likely that the trial and two appeals allowed under Italian law will be completed before the other charge times out.

Berlusconi now has 15 days to choose his next move. He could plead guilty and bargain for a reduced sentence; he could agree to a “quickie” trial, which would be held behind closed doors and entitle him to a one-third reduction of his sentence if convicted; or he could settle for a full trial in public.

Under Italian legal procedure, the alleged victims are identified. In this case, they are Karima el-Mahroug, a runaway Moroccan teenager who was a guest at parties in Berlusconi’s villa outside Milan, and the Italian interior ministry.

Not the least of the bad news that rained down on the prime minister this week came in an interview with Berlusconi loyalist Nicole Minetti’s lawyer. Mahroug was released from police custody into Minetti’s care. She told the website Affaritaliani.it: “Nicole Minetti is going to speak. She will do so clearly, even at the cost of breaking with Silvio Berlusconi.”

Shares in Berlusconi’s Mediaset TV group fell 1,7% on the news of the judge’s decision, which came against a background of reports that the prime minister’s private life is at the centre of yet another inquiry, allegedly concentrating on parties held at a castle on the outskirts of Rome, which he occupied last summer.

Dario Franceschini, the parliamentary chief of the Partito Democratico, said: “Berlusconi must resign. He should stop making us the laughing stock of the world.” — Guardian News & Media 2011